Events

Use this skill when code must run during application startup/shutdown or when lifecycle orchestration is needed.

Workflow

1. Register startup hooks for shared resources (DB pools, clients, caches).
2. Register shutdown hooks for cleanup.
3. Keep hooks idempotent and failure-aware.
4. Use app state/dependencies to expose initialized resources.

Pattern

from litestar import Litestar


async def on_startup() -> None:
    pass


async def on_shutdown() -> None:
    pass


app = Litestar(
    route_handlers=[],
    on_startup=[on_startup],
    on_shutdown=[on_shutdown],
)

Event Checklist

• Fail fast on critical startup failures.
• Ensure shutdown paths release external resources.
• Avoid long blocking tasks in lifecycle hooks.

Litestar References

• https://docs.litestar.dev/latest/usage/events.html